This Lake Out West Might Disappear in a Few Years

And the consequences for the ecosystem surrounding the lake, including the human ecosystem, could be dire.

Transcript

00:00This is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

00:07Scientists say that as climate change continues, it could all dry up.

00:10But not in 50 or 100 years or sometime in the distant future.

00:13A new report indicates if something isn't done immediately, right now, pronto, the lake

00:18for which the state's biggest city gets its name could disappear in five years.

00:23Over the last couple of years, the massive salt lake has lost a million acre feet of

00:26water every year.

00:27An acre foot being an acre of land covered by one foot of water.

00:30The Great Salt Lake isn't just water, though.

00:32It's a massive ecosystem of fish, birds, and other wildlife around the lake that rely on

00:37it.

00:38Meaning as the lake dries up, experts say many will be added to the endangered species

00:41list.

00:42But there's another danger of drying lake beds.

00:44At the bottom of the lake lies embedded arsenic, mercury, lead, and cyanotoxins.

00:48And when the lake dries, winds can pick up and aerosolize those contaminants, leading

00:53to health issues for anyone nearby.

00:55So how do we save this integral source of water for the region?

00:57Well, experts say the region needs to use it less.

01:00Water consumption needs to be cut by up to half.

01:02And humans need to come up with a way to bring at least 2.5 million acre feet of water back

01:07to the once great salt lake.